1: What are you trying to accomplish?
2: What's your evidence that you can accomplish it?
3: How is it possible that you can provide an open heart surgery in Iraq for less than $1,000? Is that the full cost?
4: So is that the same thing as saying that my donation doesn't really make a difference? That the "up to 85%" funded locally by those inside Iraq is all that is really necessary to make this work?
5: Any other costs?
6: What is the bottleneck to more surgeries: money or skilled labor?
7: I'm skeptical of non-profits and charities because they always seem to be asking for more money. How can I be sure that Preemptive Love Coalition has "room for more funding" and that I'm not paying into a huge savings account, "Rainy Day Fund", or something similar?
8: Do you have enough volunteer surgeons available for unfunded Remedy Missions? (i.e., are there trips that you could fund if you had more money, or is there a labor bottleneck?)
9: Many heart surgeries require follow-up treatment (including additional surgeries). Do you have a way of providing these to patients?
10: How do you assess whether surgeries are completed competently and appropriately?
11: What is the rate of complications during and following surgery?
12: How do you assess whether surgeons are performing additional surgeries that they would have not had the funding or motivation to perform otherwise?
13: How do you assess whether surgeons are charging their patients for the surgeries you fund?
14: Do you follow up with the surgeons you've trained to assess whether they are correctly applying their training?
15: What information is available on the activities - and competence - of the surgeons you've trained?
16: Where do surgeons work after completing training? Do they serve poor patients?
17: How much do you spend each year on "program" expenses and how much on "overhead?"


----------

 Q: What are you trying to accomplish?

A: Train Iraqi heart surgeons and nurses so they can eradicate the backlog of tens of thousands of Iraqi children waiting in line for lifesaving heart surgery. [Back to Top]

 Q: What's your evidence that you can accomplish it?

A: Each year we continue to increase Iraq's total number of pediatric cardiac surgeries with new surgeries in Iraqi centers that would not - indeed could not - have been accomplished otherwise. Ministry of Health (MOH) officials speculate 500 surgeries were accomplished in 2009 (of which we provided 23 - 4.6% - outside the country). The addition of our 82 surgeries in FY 2010 - to the 500 baseline - for a total of 582 approximated surgeries, represents an increase created by PLC of 14% over 2009. In FY 2011 we anticipate increasing Iraq's total number of pediatric cardiac surgeries to at least 719 (or another 19% over FY 2010 directly attributable to our surgeons and our training).

Each year the local teams with which we work will become more proficient, and each year they will independently take on a larger case load than they could have the year before. None of these figures yet account for that additional output.

In March 2010 the Iraqi Ministry of Health asked us to expand our work to three additional sites. In May 2010 we began additional discussions about establishing a fellowship program in which international surgeons and nurses would take up residence in the Iraqi system to train locally for 40 weeks out of the year.

Our model does not rely strictly on volunteers because the level of need in Iraq outstrips what we could reasonably supply through volunteer labor alone. Accordingly, we set our budgets so as to actually contract the international surgical and nursing staff we need to accomplish our mission.

Sure, this increases the cost-per-mission (and thereby, cost-per-child) over early "mission" models in which volunteerism was idealized and training was not necessarily prioritized. But our contract labor + volunteerism model is inarguably the only way to create a nationwide quarterly training program and fellowships inside Iraq with international experts across approximately 6-8 surgical sites. Moreover, our model does not face the same sluggishness of learning that other surgery organizations suffer because we do not have the same rates of turnover; we have incredible consistency across our programs and missions. [Back to Top]

 Q: How is it possible that you can provide an open heart surgery in Iraq for less than $1,000? Is that the full cost?

A: The "less than $1k" numbers we routinely publish represent the amount in "program costs" we spend from our international donor money. The figure does not necessarily account for every single management, overhead, or fundraising expense.

Our total expenditures for FY 2010 were $188,919. We performed 82 surgeries during the same period for a per child total of $2,304 (though this data is a bit moot moving into 2010-11 as we abandon our very expensive "surgery exports" program(s) in Turkey, etc. and focus henceforth on more cost-effective in-country surgeries alone).

When all of our Remedy Mission partners are taken into consideration - including the Iraqi Government, medical companies that donate medicines and supplies, and local organizations - the real Remedy Mission cost to all donors is in the range of $5,400 - $7,000. Put another way, up to 85% of the total cost of a single surgical/training mission is now subsidized by local, Iraqi constituent institutions. [Back to Top]

 Q: So is that the same thing as saying that my donation doesn't really make a difference? That the "up to 85%" funded locally by those inside Iraq is all that is really necessary to make this work?

A: There is not a single site across Iraq for which our Remedy Missions are fully funded. If we fail to provide our 15-19% of the overall budget, Remedy Missions fail, surgeons and nurses do not get trained regularly, on-site audits from our international team do not happen, up to 20 children are delayed from receiving surgery, and a few may even die or become inoperable. Your role in funding the remaining 15-19% is as critical in the short term as any other entity. A single Remedy Mission is binary - it either happens or it doesn't. Your money makes it happen. But our goal is to continue to graduate all our programs so they are 100% funded locally in the next 5-10 years. [Back to Top]

 Q: Any other costs?

A: Our numbers per Remedy Mission do not account for "indirect costs," such as the cost (or value) of our volunteer medical staff from around the world, costs to local healthcare systems, the cost of a family to travel to the surgery site, the opportunity costs of lost income for families as they wait for surgery, etc. The reason we think it's important to note this here is because lifesaving is actually quite difficult. Building a pediatric cardiac surgery system for the entire country of Iraq is laborious and full of complexities. [Back to Top]

 Q: What is the bottleneck to more surgeries: money or skilled labor?

A: People often assume that the biggest need is more Iraqi heart surgeons. We could use a few more, but the real bottleneck is skilled nurses, technicians, and non-surgical physicians. A surgeon is only as good as his support staff. One of our biggest challenges is training pediatric cardiac intensive care nurses. To date, we haven't found a better model than our Remedy Missions through which we bring quarterly hands-on training to local nurses (and surgeons) in Iraq. Rather than exporting the nurses to Europe or the USA for training (whose medical systems barely resemble the Iraqi system), we train them with what they have on hand in their local environment. [Back to Top]

 Q: I'm skeptical of non-profits and charities because they always seem to be asking for more money. How can I be sure that Preemptive Love Coalition has "room for more funding" and that I'm not paying into a huge savings account, "Rainy Day Fund", or something similar?

A: For the record, we are skeptical of non-profits as well! In 2012 PLC needs $350,000 on hand at any given time to cover our cash flow needs for up to three Remedy Missions per quarter. We are still 30% under-funded against that goal. In addition to cash flow needs, we still require 15-19% funding on most of our missions after local sources contribute their portion; we have un-funded pilot programs in new cities where local doctors have been requesting our help (but where weve yet to woo local philanthropists or health directors); and we have research and social service initiatives through our Followthrough program that require funding at present because we have not yet sought local funding for those initiatives (seeing as how they relate mostly to our Monitoring & Impact Evaluation objectives). Please see our "Funding Gap" page to look deeper into our anticipated program costs, the sources of funding we are counting on, and the funding gap between the two for the next few years. [Back to Top]

 Q: Do you have enough volunteer surgeons available for unfunded Remedy Missions? (i.e., are there trips that you could fund if you had more money, or is there a labor bottleneck?)

A: Great question! We use a hybrid volunteer/staff model. Roughly 25-30% of any one of our Remedy Mission teams is employed by the International Children's Heart Foundation (typically the surgeon, scrub nurse, anesthesiologist, ICU doctor, and often a part-time ICU nurse). The remainder of the team typically comprises volunteer physicians, technicians, and nurses from across the world. Because the hardest-to-come-by positions are contract labor for us and NOT volunteers, we have never failed to run a mission for lack of personnel. We have only cancelled or turned down a request for a future mission due to lack of funding. [Back to Top]

 Q: Many heart surgeries require follow-up treatment (including additional surgeries). Do you have a way of providing these to patients?

A: Yes, we do. Our model dictates quarterly visits to each program site (a hospital inside a regional hub). Our reliance on local cardiologists ensures that the local team prioritizes and almost entirely sets the agenda for patient selection (within a development curricula) - after all, Iraqi doctors are the ones who are most intimately connected to the patients and their daily progress! When a local cardiologist sees a child who has either (1) deteriorated and requires another intervention or (2) advanced as expected to the next step of a complex, staged intervention, the child is prioritized for follow-up treatment. [Back to Top]

 Q: How do you assess whether surgeries are completed competently and appropriately?

A: Because we are a broker and play a combination administrative and financier role in the coalition of partners working in Iraq to develop pediatric cardiac care, we are able to stand in-between the local surgical team and the international surgical team (whom we contract as a third-party to train and perform surgeries in Iraq). If the local team or health directorate suspects a lack of competence in the international team, a cavalier attitude, or a single poor judgement call, our role is to be the go-between - to be the advocate for the local healthcare providers vis-a-vis the international surgical team.

Similarly, if the international surgical team feels pushed by the local surgical team to perform procedures with which they are uncomfortable or for which they think the local system is ill-prepared, they are able to refuse children for surgery and/or use us (PLC) as a go-between.

The checks-and-balance between the two teams helps us ensure surgeries are performed in a competent, appropriate manner. [Back to Top]

 Q: What is the rate of complications during and following surgery?

A: We report our in-hospital and 60-day mortality after each Remedy Mission. You can finds those numbers here. We also produce reports after each Remedy Mission detailing the trip, including data on intraoperative complications, post-operative complications, and mortality. You can find those reports here. We are also deliberately raising the funds necessary to help us bring our various heart hospitals into compliance with the International Quality Improvement Collaborative for Congenital Heart Surgery in Developing Countries. If this kind of quality improvement and reporting initiative interests you, we are currently looking for financial partners for our Followthrough program. [Back to Top]

 Q: How do you assess whether surgeons are performing additional surgeries that they would have not had the funding or motivation to perform otherwise?

A: Pediatric heart surgery in Iraq is almost nonexistent without our work. There are two active programs for relatively simple surgeries (one in Erbil and one in Baghdad). Local surgeons claim that combined they perform no more than a few hundred pediatric surgeries a year. In every location where we work, pediatric heart surgery is effectively nonexistent. Therefore, every surgery performed at our program sites (both when we are present and when we are not) are "additional surgeries" that they would not have had the SKILL to perform without the FUNDING we employed to train them in their local environment. [Back to Top]

 Q: How do you assess whether surgeons are charging their patients for the surgeries you fund?

A: Because we work in public (government) hospitals - and because healthcare in Iraq is provided almost entirely free of charge - it is widely known that any cardiologist, surgeon, or administrator seeking compensation for services is acting outside of Iraqi law. [Back to Top]

 Q: Do you follow up with the surgeons you've trained to assess whether they are correctly applying their training?

A: We see them quarterly in their local environment and perform real-time audits of their skills, recollection of past training, application of new techniques, etc. Additionally, our international surgeon remains on call at any time via phone, Skype, or email for consultation. [Back to Top]

 Q: What information is available on the activities - and competence - of the surgeons you've trained?

A: Because our Remedy Mission training program only began in late 2010 - and pediatric heart surgery at our sites across Iraq is the same age - there is still relatively little independent practice to report, and therefore little data on the activities and competence of our surgeons and their teams. But as they begin performing more surgeries independently, we are trying to align each site/surgical team with the International Quality Improvement Collaborative for Congenital Heart Surgery in Developing Countries (a data collection and tracking initiative of Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard University). [Back to Top]

 Q: Where do surgeons work after completing training? Do they serve poor patients?

A: As of Q2 2011 there was only one private hospital in Iraq (to our knowledge) providing pediatric heart surgery (and those surgeries were on the lower end of the complexity scale). Our work does not necessarily mean to exclude private hospitals as they continue to come online and become viable options, but at present the government system has a better equipped foundation for training local surgical teams. As we look to fully graduate our local surgical teams in the next 5-10 years, we imagine that most of them will stay in the public sector for all of the stability, pensions, and benefits of loyalty provided to those who stick with it. But, undoubtedly, some will seek positions at private hospitals (assuming private hospitals are willing to invest in the requisite capital purchases necessary to establish a credible program). In the public sector, rich and poor are served alike. In the private sector, poorer patients would be at an obvious disadvantage. [Back to Top]

 Q: How much do you spend each year on "program" expenses and how much on "overhead?"

A: As a rule, we do not adhere to the model that claims that "overhead" is somehow bad and "program" is somehow good. There are very bad program expenses. There are overhead expenses that are excellent investments. We agree with Paul Brest, President of the Hewlett Foundation, when he said, "Achieving a low overhead ratio drives many charities to behaviors that make them less effective and means more, not less, wasted dollars." Therefore, we spend as much on overhead as we need to accomplish our mission. The mission itself is our North Star - not arbitrary (even harmful) standards about overhead-vs-program expenditures. For the record, however, you can find a current pie chart of our expenditures here (and if you're into that sort of thing, you'll probably be impressed!). [Back to Top]

Jeremy Courtney Founder, Executive Director Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney

“I'd love to hear any critique or questions you might have!”

DROP A NOTE OR DONATION BY MAIL: Preemptive Love Coalition 1300 Darbyton Dr. Hewitt, TX 76643 GIVE BY PHONE: To make a gift over the phone, using your credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover), please call +1 (806) 853-9131 during normal business hours. IRAQ OFFICE: +964 770-355-6298 (local)

In a word: “Comrades”

June 29, 2011 by Lydia · Leave a Comment 

Our Partners:

Lydia Bullock wrote and photographed for us during the 2010 summer internship and then again for 7 months in 2011. She documented surgical missions in northern and southern Iraq. See more of her excellent work on our Flickr stream, or follow her on Twitter: @lydiabullock.

Mohammed’s Here For The Remedy

June 29, 2011 by Alex · Leave a Comment 

Today, I hesitated outside the entrance of the hospital ward in southern Iraq. Kids spend most of the day waiting for surgery in this room.

Mothers and their children filled the room, and I didn’t want to barge into a room that these families might have thought were off-limits to outsiders.

But as I stood there, recognizing that I was the outsider, looking confused and out-of-place, a 6-year-old boy named Mohammed walked up, smiled, and took my hand as if he knew exactly what I was going through.

He safely escorted me to the back of the room so I could meet the family I had come to see.

Mohammed never left my side, but just kept holding my hand and making me feel more at-ease until he felt that his duty had been completed.

We couldn’t speak to each other and even though we interacted for only a few minutes, I can’t help but to look forward to spending more time with Mohammed.

What makes me more excited is that Mohammed isn’t just here to help out this goofy foreigner; he’s here to have his failing heart restored.

He’s here for the Remedy.

The doctors are still unclear as to how complicated Mohammed’s heart condition is, but they’re beginning the tests that will help them know what needs to be done to reclaim his heart.

In the meantime, we’ll just keep waiting.

Stay tuned for more updates on Mohammed.

While you wait check out Rokya’s Mom documenting her daughter’s Remedy in Iraq on our Facebook page.

Our Partners:

Alex Phillips, a two-time PLC summer intern ('10 & '11), has invested his heart into the surgical and medicinal aid available to the children of Iraq, hoping to better understand the complicated ties between poverty and health. On his off days, Alex spends his time reading up on his field, listening to punk rock, riding his bike, and updating his Twitter: @_alexphillips.

How One Family Returned Looking For Their Belongings And A Second Chance

June 27, 2011 by Cody · Leave a Comment 

Today was our first day in the hospital, but it felt more like the first day of school. The hallways were filled with families and their children, deliveries were made, rooms were assigned, tours were given, and in the midst of all that we were looking for little four-year-old Noor.

While we were on the hunt for Noor, her family was looking for the lost and found in search of all their belongings that they left behind from the last Remedy Mission.

Noor was scheduled to receive surgery last Remedy, but on the last day her family received news that there wasn’t any more time left to operate on their child. It would have to happen the next mission. Heartbroken that their daughter wouldn’t be given a chance this time around, they held Noor close and returned home – forgetting all of their belongings on the hospital floor.

Today, they returned for all that was theirs to claim: their belongings and a second chance.

Noor’s on the schedule again for what we all hope will be a lifesaving surgery. Until then, we’re enjoying another opportunity to love on Noor!

Join us this week as we follow her second chance.

Our Partners:

Cody Fisher is the co-founder and Development Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He moved to Iraq in 2007 where he met his wife and since then they've been waging peace and mending hearts across Iraq. His passions are photography, peacemaking, and food that doesn't come out of a can. You can follow him on Twitter: @candmfisher.

3 Reasons You Can Give Someone To Show Them Iraq Is Changing For The Better

June 26, 2011 by Cody · 1 Comment 

Yesterday on the drive to southern Iraq we ran over a pothole. Actually, we ran over several potholes.

The biggest pothole of the day – and the same one that made the loudest noise as our van clung to its parts – was the same one that caused my Iraqi friend next to me to groan and say, “I just want to see change. I want to see something different now that the war’s over. Where are the new roads? Where are the signs that Iraq is changing?”

The next pothole we hit launched us both into a conversation attempting to answer that question. It kept us busy for most of the drive, but we kept coming back to the same 3 immediate signs that Iraq is changing for the better.

Sign #1: Right now, families are traveling from all over southern Iraq to come to this Remedy Mission. Before, families were lining up to leave the country trying to find the doctors that could save their children from their heart defects. Today, families are lining up outside a hospital in southern Iraq, waiting for their child’s chance at a lifesaving heart surgery. For the first time, families don’t need to leave the country to find the cure.

Sign #2: This week, a Sunni family will hand their child over to a Shiite doctor to be saved. In 2007, at the height of the violence in Iraq between Sunni and Shiites, this would have been unheard of. Now, the disease that’s threatening their children is bringing them together!

Sign #3: The notorious “brain drain” that happened when 20,000 of the 34,000 registered doctors in Iraq fled during the war is being reversed. During our last Remedy Mission in northern Iraq we met one of the doctors who had returned. Today we’re not only seeing doctors return, but – thanks to Remedy Missions – the doctors who never left are being equipped and trained, too. Their training is changing the tide of healthcare in Iraq.

So, the next time you hear someone looking for a reason to believe Iraq is changing for the better, start by giving them these 3.

Or better yet, show them the above photo of Rayed smiling before he received his lifesaving heart surgery during Remedy Mission V. Then tell them to stay tuned because Remedy Mission VI is already underway here in southern Iraq!

Our Partners:

Cody Fisher is the co-founder and Development Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He moved to Iraq in 2007 where he met his wife and since then they've been waging peace and mending hearts across Iraq. His passions are photography, peacemaking, and food that doesn't come out of a can. You can follow him on Twitter: @candmfisher.

Why I’m Just As Excited About Our 6th Remedy Mission And 163rd Child As I Was About The First

June 23, 2011 by Cody · 1 Comment 

As you’re reading this, I’ll probably be looking for my carry-on. At the same time, the iron will be heating up, three airline tickets to southern Iraq will be taped to the front-door and my weathered passport will be sticking out of my shoe. The alarm clark will be set for 6 AM but it’s more of a fail-safe since I’ve never been able to sleep the night before traveling anyways.

Tomorrow begins our 6th Remedy Mission in Iraq, and once it begins we’ll only be hours away from serving our 163rd child. Since it’s our 6th mission you would think by now I’d have it all together. You would also think that at this point our excitement for these missions would start to level out as they become more of “business as usual.” You’d be exactly right thinking that this is becoming “business as usual” for all of us at PLC, but that’s exactly why my excitement isn’t peaking anytime in the near future.

For us, “business as usual” means witnessing another round of lifesaving, heartmending, peacewaging surgeries given to Iraqi children who have waited for far too long. For you, it means interacting with and following a slew of stories and photos on our Blog, Facebook Page, and Twitter account, all centered around those you’re helping us serve this mission, like beautiful Noor. For the medical team, it means another two weeks of working around the clock, teaching, evaluating, and giving child after child a chance at life, day after day.

But for the 20-25 children that will be saved this trip…this isn’t “business as usual” by any means. For their parents, this is NOT just another Remedy Mission. This is the week that their child will be given the open heart surgery that they’ve searched and waited their entire life for. For children like Noor (pictured above), this week is going to give them a chance at life. Because of that, I’ll gladly stay up all night waiting for the remedy.

I may eventually figure out the art of getting ready for a trip like this, but I don’t think my excitement will ever change.

Remedy Mission VI kicks off……NOW!

Our Partners:

Cody Fisher is the co-founder and Development Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He moved to Iraq in 2007 where he met his wife and since then they've been waging peace and mending hearts across Iraq. His passions are photography, peacemaking, and food that doesn't come out of a can. You can follow him on Twitter: @candmfisher.

In A Word: “Check-Up”

June 22, 2011 by Lydia · Leave a Comment 

Lydia Bullock wrote and photographed for us during the 2010 summer internship and then again for 7 months in 2011. She documented surgical missions in northern and southern Iraq. See more of her excellent work on our Flickr stream, or follow her on Twitter: @lydiabullock.

How My Search For Healing Ended With A Laugh And A Half-Eaten Peach

June 20, 2011 by Ted · 1 Comment 

I walked into a pretty standard Iraqi home.

I sat down on a couch while the television informed us of an Iraqi political event.

I drank Mountain Dew from a glass bottle, thankful for the familiarity of a soda.

Then I met Hawlbast, a little boy who loves fruit, his family and giving kisses.

I found myself looking him over – looking for some sign that would indicate he had been healed. Something more than just the scar I knew was beneath his shirt. This was the little boy who in March of this year was laying on an operating room table undergoing open heart surgery. Surely I would be able to tell he had been through that.

But there was nothing.

He merely played with his brother, pretended to answer the phone and thoroughly enjoyed looking at pictures of himself.

He was behaving like any young boy his age would and it hit me: this is healing. Healing is being restored to what we were meant to be. In Hawlbast’s case, he wasn’t meant to have blue, poorly-oxygenated skin or shortness of breath- all of which he had to endure prior to his surgery.

I’m not naive enough to believe that there are zero complications lying beneath Hawlbast’s smile, but for now being restored in Hawlbast’s case means spending time with his family and brightening their day.

So when Hawlbast laughed and threw his half eaten peach at his smiling dad, I smiled too. I’m sure my father endured the same at my hands when I was Hawlbast’s age, and to me, that is a sign of healing.

Ted is making the magic happen as PLC's videography intern this summer ('11). He'll be the first to tell you: he shoots and edits to the glory of GOD and the benefit of Iraqi kids. When he isn't panning his camera, well... just go here to read just a few of Ted's lovable idiosyncrasies. He's also an avid Tweeter: @tedvid.

How Caring for Iraqi Children Made Me A Better Father

June 16, 2011 by Jeremy · 1 Comment 

Jeremy Courtney lives and loves in Iraq as a co-founder and Executive Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He's also the father of two spectacular children, and married to the lovely Jessica Courtney. When not absorbed in PLC work he can be found writing songs and singing about hope and future. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney.

In a Word: “Aspiration”

June 15, 2011 by Lydia · 1 Comment 

Iraqi Kurdistan 2010. A classroom in Wshyary village school. Photo courtesy of Julie Adnan.

Lydia Bullock wrote and photographed for us during the 2010 summer internship and then again for 7 months in 2011. She documented surgical missions in northern and southern Iraq. See more of her excellent work on our Flickr stream, or follow her on Twitter: @lydiabullock.

Why Father’s Day Means So Much to Hafez And His Son

June 15, 2011 by Jeremy · 1 Comment 

At exactly this time last year, Hafez (pictured above) was facing down the worst Father’s Day of his life as he desperately worked against the clock to save his son’s life.

At exactly this time last year, we asked for your help… and you came through in a huge way, raising more than $30,000 in just a few weeks so we could launch our first-of-its-kind Remedy Mission inside Iraq.

At exactly this time last year, you made this father’s day and helped secure for him a happier life than the one he was facing without you.

Meet Abdul Kareem – the son of my friend, Hafez. When I met them, they did not have the money to pursue surgery outside of Iraq like all the rich people, people with political clout, or the lottery winners.

I’ll never forget Hafez’s plea to me – certainly the same plea I would make on behalf of my son – “Just do something for him. He’s just a little boy.” He got so emotional that he excused himself from my office. This father, having done all he could for his son, walked away from the office crying. Abdul Kareem needed heart surgery before his first birthday or he was likely to become entirely inoperable – “a lost cause.”

But you weren’t about to let that happen!

The day our surgical team arrived from all over the world for Remedy Mission I, Hafez must have seen us on the news because he called me ten times: “Is my boy going to surgery? Mr. Jeremy, just do something to help my little boy!”

His boy was going to surgery, thanks to those of you who gave in response to our request last year’s for Father’s Day and our Remedy Mission launch!

There is another moment with my friend Hafez that I won’t forget – the day his son Abdul Kareem had surgery. I remember it so distinctly because after the surgery Hafez grabbed me, kissed me, and gave me an tearful “thank you” for keeping our word; for saving his son’s life.

Once Abdul Kareem was discharged to return home, Hafez sent me a message from the road. The message said something like, “Thank you so much for your organization and for helping my little boy. We will not forget you.“ With tears running down his face, he wanted to thank you each by name. You made a father’s dream come true. And you prevented his big brother, Abbas, from growing up without a soccer-buddy.

Dad, I love all the great memories we’ve made together. This year, I wanted to add, “saving a child’s life in Iraq” to the list, so that another child and his father can make great memories together too.

We want to make it easy for you to honor your dad this Father’s Day and help save the life of baby Ghazel. A simple $10 donation will help us save her life and cover the cost of two hours of hands-on training with local Iraqi surgeons! A $25 donation will accomplish that and add hours of training in Iraq for an additional three Iraqi doctors and nurses! If you like, we’ll even provide you with a free downloadable card that you can print and give to your dad this Father’s Day!

Jeremy Courtney lives and loves in Iraq as a co-founder and Executive Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He's also the father of two spectacular children, and married to the lovely Jessica Courtney. When not absorbed in PLC work he can be found writing songs and singing about hope and future. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney.

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Preemptive Love Coalition provides lifesaving heart surgeries for Iraqi kids in pursuit of peace between communities at odds. We offer the 30,000 Iraqi children suffering from life-threatening heart defects a chance at the surgery they need to save their lives. With our world-class international surgical partners we create long-term solutions by training local Iraqi doctors and nurses so they can sustainably save lives without our help.

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